The trees and flowers, they are a'bloomin'

A burst of mauve outside our front door, in Siena Park
As always: click to enlarge

Dylan in China, gets me to think of that line -- though he wasn't allowed by Chinese authorities to sing The times they are a' changin', causing many to say that he'd sold out.  He never said that he'd sold in, it happens, but now, now...  back to local flowers, for they really are a' bloomin....
We've had a riot of flowers in recent weeks, with the bougainvillia, the mauve one in particular out in a burst of vivid colour.  I think it's cause we've had a dry winter and they do like the dry -- see how well they do in the Med. Also out in profusion is our Aussie Bottle brush, callistemon viminalis.  Also, our Mango tree and the Lychee are both going to give us lots of fruit this year, after being barren for a few years.

John and Basil, by that same bush, on our walk today in the park.
Note that John is wearing my sailing shoes.

And the bottle brush in our back yard, lookin' good this year, weeping with brush....  It's also a favourite with our birds: Chinese and red-vented Bulbuls, Japanese White-eyes, Olive-backed Pipits, Magpie robins.  We also have our local Koel, singing out "Ko-el" in rising timbre, calling for a mate... but he's in the Flame tree just left of the bottle brush.

Callistemon Viminalis, prominent in Canberra region, in our backyard.
The bush below it is Powder Puff, a Brazilian native, which does well here
and has just finished flowering.
Click to enlarge and click again for even larger.

One of our kumquat bushes. The birds love them.
What they leave, I'll turn into kumquat marmalade and brandy.

And I thought I'd just toss in this one below. It's Arlene showing the dogs a salmon puff that they're going to get later on.  She'd cooked it for Jing, who didn't eat it and it couldn't be kept, so doggies in for a treat..... Check Marcus' look especially...

Arlene shows the dogs some very special "scraps": Nikki, Marcus, Basil

John and I took the dogs for a walk today: it was raining, so we put on their raincoats.  They look so cute.  (forgot to take photo, though....)